Many gaming machines contain a bill acceptor (i.e., bill validator) that draws in and reads currency bills inserted therein by a player. The bill acceptor includes an entry end with an entry slot for receiving the inserted bills. If an inserted bill is determined to be valid, the bill acceptor accepts the bill and delivers it to a cassette that stores the accepted bills. If, however, an inserted bill is determined to be invalid, the bill acceptor rejects the bill by dispensing it from the bill acceptor. The gaming machine increments its credit meter by a number of credits corresponding to the value of an accepted bill. For example, on a “quarter” machine where each wagered credit is worth one quarter, the gaming machine increments its credit meter by four credits for each accepted dollar bill, by twenty credits for each accepted five dollar bill, by forty credits for each accepted ten dollar bill, and so on.
A bill acceptor is mounted inside a housing of the gaming machine at a mounting location. The housing includes a front door having an opening that exposes the entry slot at the entry end of the bill acceptor. In some assemblies, the bill acceptor may be mounted so deep within the machine housing that a gap exists between the front door and the entry end of the bill acceptor. To bridge this gap, a separate bezel is fixedly mounted to the front door and extends between the front door and the entry end of the bill acceptor when the door is closed.
A drawback of the above assembly is that the bezel and the entry end of the bill acceptor may be misaligned or become misaligned. Such misalignment may be caused by such factors as variances in manufacturing, age, environmental conditions, shipping and handling, etc. If the bezel and the entry end of the bill acceptor are misaligned, the entry slot may be partially concealed and thereby interfere with a player's ability to insert bills into the entry slot. In addition, the entry end of the bill acceptor includes certain visual status indicators such as miniature LED's indicative of the bill acceptor's operating state, e.g., functioning properly, malfunctioning, full bill cassette, etc. The bezel includes one or more transmissive windows that normally reveal the status indicators when the bezel and the entry end are aligned. If the bezel and the entry end are misaligned, the status indicators might be partially concealed and thereby interfere with a person's ability to easily detect the operating state of the bill acceptor. To cure any misalignment between the bezel and the entry end of the bill acceptor, the position of the front door, bezel, and/or the bill acceptor may require manual adjustment.